By The Edges
by saffroncremebrulee
Summary: Arkos themed retellings of classic Remnant fairy tales featuring Jaune, Pyrrha, and all the tropes of children's stories.
1. By The Edges

**By The Edges**

 **Disclaimer** : RWBY and the world of Remnant belongs to Rooster Teeth Studios. The idea of this story is taken from the in-universe fairy tale "The Shallow Sea." I do not own that, allusions to RWBY-verse events, classical mythology, or fairy tale tropes.

...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, in a time long since gone, lived an ordinary boy who fell in love with an extraordinary girl.

By all accounts, their story should have faded into dust. As it happens, however, they knew someone who knew someone, who told someone, who told someone else...

The boy was destined for a normal life on a normal farm in the middle of a very normal field with extremely normal knees. He had seven sisters, one named after each day of the week and each with a different color of hair. Monday's was red, Tuesday's was white, Wednesday's was black, Thursday's was yellow, and so on and so forth. The eight siblings lived together in a small jewel-shaped hut planting corn, pumpkins, and maples. Their parents had been farmers, so the ordinary boy expected to be a farmer or something, too.

After all, he was _quite_ ordinary and expected to be so all his life.

It just so happened that the Ordinary Life Fairy thought differently. One morning, as she was fluttering among the meadow behind the jewel-shaped hut, she noticed his shiny golden hair and, with a clap of her wings, immediately summoned the Extraordinary Life Fairy. "Sis! Look! Here is the _perfect_ partner for your golden girl!"

The Extraordinary Life Fairy examined the newest candidate with an appraising frown. She trusted her sister's judgement, of course; it was just that Ordinary made this pronouncement several hundred times already, and each time the perfect partner had been a little too perfect. This one wasn't...at all. If anything, this one was so very, _very_ painfully average. Neither too tall nor too short, too courageous nor too cowardly, too strong nor too weak, too handsome nor too ugly. The boy had a shy, hesitant manner, a thin and bumbling voice, and crooked, looping stance that reminded Extraordinary of a bumblebee after one too many sips of ambrosia.

Satisfied, the fairy clapped her hands in delight, causing sparks of light to dance among the early morning dew. "How _delightful_! He is The One!"

Oblivious to the magic whizzing through the air, the ordinary boy continued to hull the grain. _Huh. Weird._ _It must be raining gold_ , he thought. By the time Saturday and Sunday came to help with the chores, the sprinkling had faded into the afternoon haze, and, at dusk, the ordinary boy went to bed dressed in blue footie pajamas, still as oblivious as ever.

The sisters debated extensively about how to introduce the boy to the girl, who had been destined to live an extraordinary life in an extraordinary castle in the middle of a very extraordinary kingdom with extremely extraordinary knees. Though she had many acquaintances and admirers, they all seemed to like her for _what_ she was and not _who_ she was. This one liked the spectacular red hair, that one liked the nurturing aura, and still another liked the award-winning pancakes. They all liked the idea of the extraordinary girl more than the girl herself, and day after day the she would gaze morosely into the sea and ask for a friend who saw her are more than a paragon. She was just as a person, flaws and all, and that was all she ever wanted to be.

Now legend has it that the oceans around this particular kingdom housed a mighty and mystical power capable of granting such wishes. Of course, the sea happened to be the home of the Extraordinary, Ordinary, Somewhat-Ordinary, and So-Extraordinarily-Ordinary-It's-Like-Any-Other-Piece-of-Lint Fairies. Part of the Great Wizard's enchantment was that humans remained unaware of their existence; yet despite the secrecy, the myth of the wishing-granting ocean spread throughout the kingdom. Everyone thought that the extraordinary girl already had everything she could ever wish for, but only the fairies knew how lonely she felt surrounded by people who adored but didn't really know her.

So, late one night, Ordinary and Extraordinary moved the boy, still in his footie pajamas, from his blue and yellow bed to the bushes of the small island a few leagues away from the extraordinary girl's window. They left him with a fishing rod, some salt, and a fire stick and parted the sea clouds between the island and the shore. When morning came the ordinary boy was very confused by the seagulls nesting in his hair, though he did figured out fairly quickly that he would have to get to shore in order to meet the extraordinary girl living in the castle by the sea. The fairies left enough magical dust to find all the necessary food, shelter, and supplies and, slowly, he began to build a small arc.

Curious, the extraordinary girl observed his progress from the balcony above. Though she couldn't swim and he was too far away to hear, she cheered him on throughout the week. The ordinary boy made the bottom of the boat the first day, the sides the second and third days, and a sail of banana leaves the fourth day. She watched as he slathered coconut oil to waterproof the boat on the fifth day. His cleaning and sanding of the inside of the boat on the sixth day brought a smile to her face, as did his gathering and drying mangoes and pineapples on the seventh day. On the eighth day he set sail on the S.S. Hopeful, only to sink after only a few minutes.

Sputtering, the ordinary boy brushed the water from his eyes and glared at the remains of wood splinters and banana leaves dragging on the bottom of the ocean floor, shapes of fruits and leaves floating beside them.

How was he ever going to shore without his boat?

Floundering, he sank into the sand in frustration. Then he frowned.

 _The water was only waist deep!_

Grumbling, the ordinary boy picked the sea creatures out of his hair and walked towards the shore, where the extraordinary girl was waiting. Here was someone who wasn't afraid to fail and get back up again, someone who didn't mind laughing at himself, who didn't mind being the butt of a hilarious joke. Just an ordinary boy trying his best, and to her that was as extraordinary as can be.

And so they lived happily ever after by the edges of the shallow sea.

...

Please let me know what you think?

So...yeah...still sobbing over Volume 3 in a corner...RIP S.S Arkos.


	2. The Cardinal Directions

**The Cardinal Directions**

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own RWBY or the allusions to classic literature and mythology. This is a work of fanfiction for entertainment and feels, not profit.

...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, lived a knight who loved a brave maiden with all of his heart.

They met at the beginning of a dark and terrible time, one that the history books called the War to End All Wars. When it was finally over the land itself wept as rivers ran red. Hardly anyone was left to commemorate the fallen, but, among the ones who remained, the lonely knight remembered his beloved maiden the best. Early in the conflict, when the dawns were still auburn and skies above a clear blue, the maiden sacrificed herself in a doomed attempt to forestall a beastly dragon. Neither magic, skill, nor destiny deigned to intervene, yet the brave maiden walked towards the setting sun and, in so doing, gave her knight and their friends the chance to keep fighting.

They named themselves the Knights of the Jeweled Circlet after all that remained of their friend. Ten arduous years the Knights fought, scaling mountains and parting seas and slaying monsters in the name of Justice and Goodness. As time went on, the Circlet shrank, until one day only the Knight remained. A lone figure stood when the final blow of the trumpets echoed through the finally silent battlefields, bearing witness to a shared prayer of hope.

The kingdom stood, broken and scattered, but it _stood_ , and, for those who survived, that was more than enough.

Slowly, the story of the Knights spread and, in so doing, stitching humanity tighter under the banner of a new beginning. Fields cleared and replanted, roads widened and rebuilt, and cities swept and reconstructed in memory of what used to be. The hope of what could be spurred a new generation of warriors, one that vowed to uphold the legacy of the Jeweled Circlet until the end.

Work thus complete, the lonely knight undertook a new quest, one that brought him to all four corners of the realm his brave maiden helped save.

The knight took his sword and shield and set out across the land.

First, he went east in order to be a farmer. Unfortunately, swords wasn't very useful for planting, nor were shields very suited for harvesting, either. He went north next, becoming a professor in a great beacon floating crystals in the sky. The sword and shield were slightly more useful as demonstrative aids. As time went on, however, his instructions became less and less needed, and, when more and more students became his colleagues, the knight continued on, satisfied that peace had a new generation of guardians. This time he went west, accompanying adventurers in search of enlightenment. Here his sword and shield shone and, when the quest was complete the lonely knight traveled south, alone again, where his path blocked by a river as wide as it was deep, complete with bits of bubbly back foam that vaguely resembled pomegranate wine.

The knight tried to cross the river several times to no avail. Floats sunk as soon as they touched the foul black water, stilts vaporized on contact, and swimming quite literally set his armor on fire.

 _Aww...come on!_ He grumbled as he rolled around on the ground to extinguish the last of the fires. _This was supposed to be the last quest!_

Sighing, the knight paced on the jagged rocks, despondent. He supposed he could go back to being a farmer or something, or maybe even a teacher or just another adventurer. Somehow, in front of this vast sea of nothingness, he felt as if he had lived several million lifetimes instead of just one. Monty knows his heart was etched with enough heartache to fill several millennia's worth of suffering. So why, then, was he here, the only one that remained out of many?

And then, somewhere within the tendrils of smoke, floated a sea of familiar voices.

 _Fret not, dear Knight, for you carry our love in your heart._

And there, by the banks, he understood as he never had before.

For all the tears his eyes cried, his mouth had smiled in happiness, for that was how he knew he truly loved the brave maiden. He had joy and grief for every memory of his comrades, for that was why he fought even as all hope seemed lost. Every light that illuminated his journey was someone he loved, and for every beat of his heart was a beat of their shared dream for peace, too.

Cursing his allergies, the knight bowed and continued on with his sword and shield held high. Time would pass, seasons would change, and mountains turn to sea, but as long as he stood he would see that the kingdom they loved stood, too, tall and strong with every passing dawn.

...

Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for RWBY Chibi 6. My Arkos heart just exploded.


End file.
